Control/Dimming I Don't Get It--CD80AE

Okay, so my school has a Strand Lightboard M, and a StrandCD80 advanced Electronic dimming system. We are running off of AMX. I can't seem to find the manual anywhere online to tell me how to change the dimmer to DMX. I dont need it to be fixed right away, but eventually I wan to get a new board (I am thinking and ETCIon, but any other suggestions would be nice) so I need to know how to change the dimmer to be compatable with the boards DMX. Any Help is great!!

It won't be in the manual. Odds are your dimmers were installed before DMX existed. There are two routes you can go, either the Johnson Systems conversion route or a AMX to DMX converter. Do a search, this issue has been beaten into the ground on more then one occasion.

Amen. Brother Kyle and others have seen a few of these issues over the years within the walls of the ControlBooth. The Johnson Systems conversion route or an AMX to DMX converter is probably the most efficient way to go-

im not sure however how much the Ion is, if anyone knows i would love to know, i mean our school is cheap and im sure they would much rather buy textbooks or something. so if its to expensive i will have to find a cheaper one.....

oh ya, i forgot to say, I cant even find the manual for our dimmer in the strand archive. sooo i would like to have it, just for general purposes, not just for the AMX-DMX issue. so if anyone knows where i can get it (an electronic copy) preazze let me know

im not sure however how much the Ion is, if anyone knows i would love to know, i mean our school is cheap and im sure they would much rather buy textbooks or something. so if its to expensive i will have to find a cheaper one.....

ok, regarding the dimmers...again. I can swear when i was skimming through the manual (the very old paper copy that we keep on top of it) that it said that it would take AMX 192 or DMX 512. I would rather not have to buy a DMX to AMX converter becuase the price of the new board is going to be a lot in the first place. Does ANYONE know how to do this, because if i could do it myself that would save us a lot of moneys.

OK, update: I read through the manual last period. It DOES take DMX but it only uses three of the pins and you connect the pins to a terminalblock inside the rack, so nest task is to find a way for the county to approve it. BTW does etc like donate gear to schools or offer a dicount or anything?

There's a fellow posting on Control Booth regarding having a Strand CD80AE dimmer rack currently running AMX-192 from a Strand Lightboard M and asking how to have his dimmer rack receive DMX-512.
Several respectable folks have posted advising he look into Johnson Systems' control electronics and / or an AMX>DMX converter.
Even Kelite and footer have it wrong.

The info posted is correct for the original StrandCD80 but not for the newer CD80AE (Advanced Electronics).
As the OP suggests, his CD80AE will work with either AMX-192 or DMX-512.
As to how you change it, you simply feed it whichever protocol you want and it'll wake up, think for a couple of seconds, and happily respond to whatever you're sending it.
Of course you have to be sending the correct protocol to the correct input terminals.

There's a CD80AE rack in my neighbourhood.
It's old console is an original Strand Mini-Palette, one of the white plastic jobbies with a single mono-chrome monitor built in and which speaks AMX-192 only. A few years back, they purchased an ETCExpress which speaks DMX-512 only. Whichever console they power up, the rack recognizes the protocol and goes to work.
Additionally, they have several 9 button wall stations for routine daily control and these run on yet another protocol which works seamlessly in the background.

Possibly you could explain this to Kelite, quietly in the background as opposed to challenging him publicly.
The OP came back later in the thread having read his old paper manual that his school keeps on top of their rack.
He should heed the manual and don't let anyone take it away from the rack.
He ought to make a few photocopies of his manual as well.

One more little tidbit to file away regarding Strand CD80AE racks.Strand offered a compact handheld "Rack Programmer", at an exorbitant price, exclusively for storing cues and adjusting internal settings within CD80AE's.
What Strand didn't make public knowledge is that the rack programmer is absolutely identical to the old LP90 console's focus remote.
The EXACT same unit with the only change being the plastic overlay labelling the buttons.
No, it didn't require different internal programming.
Yes it's EXACTLY the same unit.
Yes I know this for a fact as I've tried it decades ago, O.K., not quite decades but back in 1991.Strand would like you to think the programmer only looks similar but requires special software.
Nope! Not true.
Either unit does either job as long as you know which buttons do which functions.
There! I've put it in writing in an e-mail!!

From memory, I believe there's a large, old, reputable Strand dealer in your city.
Any of their techs with 20, or more, years of Strand expertise ought to still remember the CD80AE's and their programmers.

Maybe someday Control Booth will let me post there again.
I'm not sure what went wrong, I used to be able to post on Control Booth but not for the past several years.

Thank you Ship, for passing along Ron's detailed comments regarding the CD80AE dimmer. I hereby rescind my previous statement and beg for mercy at the feet of the court!
Fortunately for WTC this was caught prior to a capital expenditure. And I believe we owe a thank you to Ron Hebbard.

Ron: had the ability to post on the ControlBooth changed when the site make-over took place? Perhaps we need to chat with Devious Dave about getting your credentials back in hand. Your experience and tact would be most welcomed back to the 'Booth!